'Divergent' review: A bit far from believability

Elaborate structure of future society strains viewers' credulity

Mick LaSalle

Updated 10:21 am, Friday, March 21, 2014

It's the future, and society is divided into neat categories with no room for those who don't fit tidily into one of them. Theo James and Shailene Woodley deal with it in "Divergent."
Photo: Jaap Buitendijk, Summit Entertainment

Divergent

"Divergent" begins with an image of an overgrown lot and a distant view of a city skyline. The city is immediately identifiable as Chicago, but as the camera moves closer, you see that it's a blown-out Chicago, with rust and corrosion and gashes in its signature buildings. At first, you might think that everyone is dead, that the Cubs finally won the World Series and the city imploded. But no, there are people down there, lots of people, living in a new society configured in a bizarre way.

This configuration is at the heart of everything in "Divergent" - and in the two sequels sure to follow - so let's lay it out: In this new world, society has been broken up into five factions based on personality type: Abnegation (selfless people), Dauntless (warriors), Erudite (really smart people), Candor (honest people) and Amity (peaceful people).

As for people who don't fit into any one category, those people are - uh-oh - Divergent. And they're considered dangerous. Hence, they're cast out of society and have to live on the fringes, homeless, eating scraps.

Right away, a few problems. Yes, a culture that undervalues its most gifted members, in which it's a crime to be well-rounded, has a certain metaphorical interest, if only for the way it reminds us of high school. But this society makes no sense except as a metaphor. The social layout of "Divergent" was supposedly devised so as to maintain peace, but putting people into airtight factions guarantees conflict.

Also, let's take a second look at those five factions. Public servants, warriors and brainy people have built-in activities, but how do the people in Candor pass the time? By telling each other that their jeans really do make them look fat? And how do those peaceful types in Amity pass the time, meditating? Really, Candor and Amity have absolutely no active purpose, so it's no wonder that the story of "Divergent" focuses entirely on the Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless factions.

It takes about 10 minutes to figure out that "Divergent" will not present a serious or intelligent vision of the future. It doesn't offer a fantasy world so much as a bogus world, lacking in internal logic. It feels more like something imagined for the sake of making teenagers feel better about not making cheerleader or the honor roll or the student council. And yet, once the movie's limits are recognized, "Divergent" can be appreciated on its own modest terms, both for its personal story and for the frenzied way it dramatizes, for a young audience, the terror of not fitting in.

The movie benefits considerably from the wide-open sincerity of Shailene Woodley as Beatrice, who starts life off in Abnegation, but just can't get the hang of being a lifelong doormat. At the choosing ritual, in which young people make a permanent decision about their life course, she makes a spontaneous choice to become Dauntless. For her, it's a demented leap, because it means a life associating with nothing but daredevils and lunatics and having to go through a brutal process of initiation that makes basic training look like a garden stroll. But for the audience, it's the best possible choice - the most physical, the most dramatic and the most dangerous.

Actually, for all the flaws in its overall concept, "Divergent" is pretty good on the day-to-day of Beatrice's life as a Dauntless novice-in-training - the dingy dining halls, the camaraderie, the leaping onto and off of buildings, the running after trains. On the plus side, for a girl who likes a certain kind of guy, Dauntless can't be beat - it's an endless parade of petty sadists and strong silent types. In the latter category, we find Theo James as Four (that's his name), who is exacting and unsmiling but who sees something special in Beatrice - or is it too special?

Kate Winslet plays the highly rational but ruthless leader of the Erudites, and every so often she makes "Divergent" seem better than it is. Ashley Judd, about the last actress you'd cast as meek and mild, has the unlikely role of an Abnegation matron, the mother of Beatrice. If you're wondering why Judd would take such a role, the answer comes near the finish. Judd gets to show her fierce side, and no one, male or female, does fierce better.